JP3822654B2 - Fish finder - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
[Industrial application fields]
The present invention relates to a fish finder that emits ultrasonic waves toward the water, receives reflected echoes from a school of fish, the seabed, and the like and displays them on a display, and detects the status of the school of fish and the seabed in the sea.
[0002]
[Prior art]
A fish finder using ultrasonic waves is well known, but briefly described here is a transmitter / receiver composed of a single ultrasonic vibration element or a plurality of ultrasonic vibration elements arranged in an appropriate shape. The ultrasonic pulse is repeatedly fired into the water, the reflected echo that is reflected from the underwater school of fish and the seabed, etc. is received, and the reflected echo is displayed on the display screen of a display composed of, for example, a CRT.
The intensity of reflected echo from a school of fish is generally proportional to the size and density of the school of fish, so the presence of a school of fish depends on the position, shading, and spread of the reflected echo image (hereinafter referred to as fish finder image) displayed on the display screen. , Information on water depth, size, density, etc. can be obtained.
[0003]
FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a conventional fish search image displayed on the display screen. In the figure, 100A to 100C are fish echoes, 100A and 100B are relatively large fish echoes, and 100C is relatively small. It is a school of fish echo. In addition, 200 indicates a sea bottom echo, and 300 indicates a current water depth value.
The vertical direction of the display screen indicates the water depth, and the horizontal direction indicates the elapsed time T. In other words, the latest video is displayed at the right end, moves to the left sequentially with the passage of time, disappears when proceeding to the left, and in this way the fish search video from the present time to T hours ago (past) Displayed on the display screen.
[0004]
One way to use such a fish finder is to search for fisheries. In this search for fishing grounds, a fisherboard equipped with a fish finder is used to search around some fishery points while moving around the fishery area, and return to the best of the searched points for efficient fishing. However, when searching for a fishing ground like this, with a conventional fish finder, some of the fish echoes that appeared to be good in the fish image were stored together with the location of the fishing boat at that time. Relying on memory, the school echoes are compared, the best point position is determined, and the position is returned to that position.
[0005]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
As described above, when searching for a fishing ground in a conventional fish finder, it is necessary to memorize several fish echoes and their positions that appear on the display screen. There is a problem that it is not easy to search.
Depending on the fish detector, there are devices that print out fish images on recording paper and output them, and devices that have a memory. Such devices do not need to store fish echoes, but currently It is impossible to grasp at a glance the direction and distance from the position of the ship to the position of the past fish echo, and even if you want to return immediately to the best point because the fish move, it is difficult to know the position. Rai.
[0006]
The present invention has been made to solve such problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a fish finder capable of easily searching a fishing ground.
[0007]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
The fish finder according to the present invention uses a reflected echo obtained by transmitting ultrasonic waves in water as an echo signal, converts the echo signal into video information, and displays on the display screen from the present time to a predetermined time before. in fish finder fish finder for displaying an image, vessel position information input means for sequentially inputting the current position information, the echo signal obtained within a predetermined time period from the start to the end of the fishing grounds search fishfinder is mounted extracts only fish echoes from a fish scale determining means for determining whether a certain size or more fish to detect the size of the fish from the fish echoes at above a certain size fish above a fish scale determining means If it is determined that, fish echo storage means and, said fish echo storage means remembers been one or more current ship every fish echoes and stores the fish echo with its position information Characterized by comprising a means for displaying overlapping denoted by the al orientation and distance to the position of each fish echoes.
Further, the fish finder according to the present invention uses a reflected echo obtained by transmitting an ultrasonic wave underwater as an echo signal, converts the echo signal into video information, and displays it on a display screen for a predetermined time from the current time. in fish finder that displays the fish finder image up, it was obtained and position information input means for inputting the current position information of the vessel fishfinder is mounted sequentially, within a predetermined time period from the start to the end of the fishing search extracts only fish echo from the echo signal, and fish scale determining means for determining whether the fish above a certain size is detected the size of the fish from the fish echoes, above a certain size in the fish scale determining means If it is determined that the fish, the fish echo storage means for storing the fish echo with the location information, the fish echo storage means remembers been one or more current per fish echo Characterized by comprising a means for displaying overlapping to the positions of the fish echo are denoted by the azimuth and distance as a numerical value display column from the ship.
[0008]
Further, the fish echo storage means also stores the depth information of the fish echo together, and for each of the one or plural fish echoes stored in the fish echo storage means, the current azimuth, distance and distance from the own ship It is characterized by having means for attaching the water depth information and displaying it at the position of each fish echo .
[0009]
Further, the means for detecting the scale of the fish school by the fish school size judging means from the fish echo is detected by the intensity of the fish echo, the length in the depth direction, and the length of the duration.
[0010]
Further, when displaying the fish echoes stored within the predetermined period, when there are a plurality of stored fish echoes, the device itself detects the fish echoes at least by the fish scale determining means, and the fish school. It is characterized by comprising means for displaying only the fish echoes that are assumed to be able to be optimally fished by comparison under a predetermined condition consisting of the strength of the echoes and the fish species assumed from the depth of the water .
[0012]
[Action]
The fish finder of the present invention is configured as described above, so that when searching for a fishing ground, only a school of fish to be fished together with its azimuth and distance, or its depth information, and the current fish finder video. By displaying on the same screen, the best point can be determined at a glance, and its direction, distance, water depth, etc. can be determined. Further, even when maneuvering to the best point, it is possible to always know the direction and distance that change with the movement of the ship, making it easier to search and operate the fishing ground.
In addition, only the fish point video information of the optimum point can be selected and displayed by the device itself, so that the fishing ground can be searched more easily.
[0013]
【Example】
Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. The fish finder of the present invention is connected to a navigation device such as GPS, Loran, etc., and the position of a fishing boat on which this fish finder is mounted is sequentially input from the navigation device, and the detected fish echo Is stored in the memory, and means for comparing manually or automatically the scale of the fish echo (ie, the size and density of the fish school) stored within a predetermined period is provided.
Therefore, when starting the search for a fishing ground, the start is input by operating the operation unit, and if the end is input when the search is completed, the best point position is detected by comparing the fish echoes received during that time. The best point position is displayed as numerical values of azimuth and distance from the ship's position, and the operator can immediately reach the best point by advancing the ship according to the numerical values.
[0014]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, 1 is an operation unit, 2 is a control unit, 3 is a position / fish search memory unit, 4 is a fish search buffer memory unit, and 5 is an A / D. Conversion unit, 6 reception unit, 7 transmission trigger generation unit, 8 transmission unit, 9 transmitter / receiver, 10 distance / azimuth calculation unit, 11 display unit, 12 display unit, 13 navigation device, 14 Is an input unit, and 15 is a memory for searching a fishing ground.
[0015]
Next, the operation will be described. In addition to a function for performing operations necessary for a normal fish finder, the operation unit 1 has a means for inputting start / end of a fishing ground search and a small fish that is not subject to fishing even if it is received during that time. Means to set the level (which is determined by the strength of the fish echo, the length in the depth direction, the length in the time direction) to cut the fish echo of the scale, and the best of the received multiple fish echoes And means for specifying whether the point (fish school echo) is detected manually or automatically.
[0016]
The transmission trigger generation unit 7 generates a trigger pulse at the transmission timing from the control unit 2 and sends it to the transmission unit 8. The transmission unit 8 generates a transmission signal, which is a high-frequency electrical signal having a predetermined pulse width, at this pulse interval, and sends it to the transducer 9.
The transmitter / receiver 9 is generally installed on the bottom of a ship, is formed of, for example, an electrostrictive element, vibrates based on a transmission signal, and radiates an ultrasonic pulse into water.
The emitted ultrasonic pulse hits the underwater fish school or the seabed and is reflected, and the reflected echo is received again by the transducer 9 and converted into an echo signal which is an electrical signal.
[0017]
The echo signal is electrically amplified by the receiving unit 6, converted to a digital value corresponding to the strength of the reflected echo by the A / D conversion unit 5, and stored in the fish finder buffer memory unit 4. The fish finder buffer memory unit 4 has a capacity for storing a digital value corresponding to an echo signal obtained by transmitting and receiving an ultrasonic pulse signal once. Therefore, the echo temporarily stored in the fish finder buffer memory unit 4 is stored. The signal is read for each transmission and sent to the position / fish search memory unit 3.
[0018]
On the other hand, in this fish finder, the current position information of the own ship is sequentially input from an external or built-in navigation device 13 such as GPS or Loran via the input unit 14, and the own ship position information is sequentially input to the control unit. 2 and the position / fish search memory unit 3. The position / fish search memory unit 3 stores the own ship position information in a one-to-one correspondence with each echo signal read from the fish buffer memory unit 4 and further obtains echo signals obtained by transmission and reception for n times. Ri you have the capacity to store, and n times of the storage area are met, are sequentially removed from the oldest echo signal, it is sequentially updated to the new echo signal. In addition, the control unit 2 converts the echo signals for n times stored in the position / fish search memory unit 3 into video information, and sends the video information to the display unit 11 to match the timing with the display unit 12. Displayed as a fish finder video on the display screen.
[0019]
In addition, when the start of the fishing ground search is instructed by the operation unit 1, the control unit 2 extracts only the fish school image information from the converted image information (this extraction is based on the depth value of the reflected echo from the seabed, for example). The reflection echo from a shallow position is judged as a fish image, etc.), the level is compared with a reference value, and if it is a fish school of a scale that can be fished, it is sequentially stored in the memory 15 together with the position. Let
Next, when the end of the fishing ground search is instructed from the operation unit 1, if the setting is made so that the best point is detected by the device itself, of the fish school video information stored in the memory 15 If the fish species can be discriminated by the depth from the video information of the largest fish school, the fish shadow density, or the fish school density, select the fish school of the desired fish species or one of them. Then, the distance and heading calculation unit 10 calculates the distance and heading from the current position to the position from the current position and the current position of the ship, such as a fish tracking box that is different from the normal fish search video. The data is converted into data to be displayed on the display unit 12 in a format, sent to the display unit 11 and displayed on the display unit 12.
If it is set to manually detect the best point, the school of fish above the reference value is displayed in the form of a fish tracking box as described above.
[0020]
FIG. 2 shows a display example of a fish finder image displayed on the display 12 in the present embodiment. In FIG. 2, the same reference numerals as those in FIG. 3 indicate the same or corresponding parts, 400A and 400B are fish tracking boxes, and water depth information is also displayed, and 401A and 401B indicate numerical display columns. . For example, 401B indicates that there is a relatively large school of fish 100B at a position 260 ° from the current position, 2.1 km, and a water depth of 35 m.
Note that the image display of the fish echo 100C is the fish image in the range of n times described above, but the image display of the fish echoes 100A and 100B in the fish tracking boxes 401A and 401B is also in the case of being in the range of n times. There are both cases where it is out of the range of the past n times.
If the automatic point setting is set by the apparatus, one of the fish tracking boxes 400A and 400B is selected and displayed.
[0021]
In the above embodiment, an example is shown in which the fishing ground is searched over a range of n times or more stored in the position / fish search memory unit 3 and the best point is selected. If it is within the range, the memory 15 need not be provided.
[0022]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, the fish finder of the present invention uses the fish echo as video information, and on the same screen as the current fish finder image, with the direction and distance from the current ship superimposed on the fish image, or Since the current direction and distance from the ship are attached to the video information of the fish echo as a numerical display field and displayed, it is possible to easily search for the optimum fishing ground in the fishing ground search in addition to the conventional functions. Do Ri, there is a further effect of such maneuvering to that position can be easily performed.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a display example in the fish finder of the present invention.
FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a display example in a conventional fish finder.
[Explanation of symbols]
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Operation part 2 Control part 3 Position / fish search memory part 10 Distance / azimuth calculation part 12 Display 13 Navigation apparatus 14 Input part 15 Memory for fishing ground search

Claims (5)

In a fish finder that uses reflected echoes obtained by transmitting ultrasonic waves underwater as echo signals, converts the echo signals into video information, and displays fish search images from the current time to a predetermined time on the display screen ,
A position information input means for inputting the current position information of the vessel fishfinder is mounted sequentially,
Only fish echoes from an echo signal obtained within a predetermined time period from the start to the end of the fishing searched extraction, fish determines whether the certain size or more fish to detect the size of the fish from the fish echo A size determination means;
If it is determined that the fish school is a fish of a certain scale or more by the fish school scale judging means, the fish echo storage means for storing the fish echo together with its position information;
And further comprising a means for displaying overlapping to the positions of the fish echo are denoted by the azimuth and distance from the fish echo storage means remembers been one or more current ship for each fish echo Fish detector. In a fish finder that uses reflected echoes obtained by transmitting ultrasonic waves underwater as echo signals, converts the echo signals into video information, and displays fish search images from the current time to a predetermined time on the display screen ,
A position information input means for inputting the current position information of the vessel fishfinder is mounted sequentially,
Only fish echoes from an echo signal obtained within a predetermined time period from the start to the end of the fishing searched extraction, fish determines whether the certain size or more fish to detect the size of the fish from the fish echo A size determination means;
If it is determined that the fish school is a fish of a certain scale or more by the fish school scale judging means, the fish echo storage means for storing the fish echo together with its position information;
And means for displaying overlapping to the positions of the fish echo are denoted by the azimuth and distance as a numerical value display column from the fish echo storage means remembers been one or more current ship for each fish echo A fish finder characterized by that. The fish echo storage means also stores the water depth information of the fish echo together, and the direction, distance and current depth information from the current ship for each of the single or plural fish echoes stored in the fish echo storage means. the claim 1 or characterized in that it comprises means for displaying overlapping to the positions of the fish echo are denoted by the fish finder according to claim 2. Means, according to claim claim 1, wherein the detecting the intensity of the fish echo in the depth direction length, the length of the duration of detecting the scale of the fish the fish scale determining means from the fish echo fish finder according to any one of the three. When displaying the fish echoes stored within the predetermined period, and when there are a plurality of stored fish echoes, the device itself indicates at least the fish scales detected by the fish scale determining means and the fish echoes. strength and compared with a predetermined condition comprising a fish species that is assumed from the depths, claim from claim 1, characterized in that it comprises means for displaying only the fish echoes is assumed enables optimum fishing fish finder according to any one of 4.

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